In Greek mythology, Asteria (Greek: αστερία, "of the stars, starry one") was a name attributed to the following eight individuals:
Daughter of Coeus[]
Asteria was the daughter of the Titans Coeus and Phoebe and sister of Leto.[1] According to Hesiod, by Perses she had a daughter Hecate. The Titan goddess of prophetic dreams, astrology and necromancy, Asteria flung herself into the Aegean Sea in the form of a quail in order to escape the advances of Zeus. She became the "quail island" of Ortygia,[2]. which became identified with Delos, which was the only piece of earth to give refuge to the fugitive Leto when, pregnant with Zeus's children, she was pursued by vengeful Hera.[3]
According to a lost poem of Eudoxus of Cnidus (c. 355 BCE)[4] by Zeus she became the mother of the Heracles in the form in which Hellenes thought they recognized him (by interpretatio graeca) as he was worshipped among Phoenicians at Tyre.
Amazon[]
Asteria was the ninth Amazon killed by Heracles when he came for Hippolyta's girdle.[5]
Heliad[]
Asteria or Astris was a daughter of Helios and Clymene or Ceto, one of the Heliades. She married the river god Hydaspes (the modern Jhelum River) and became mother of Deriades, king in India.
Danaid[]
Asteria was one of the Danaids, daughters of Danaus who, with one exception, murdered their husbands on their weddings nights. She was, briefly, the bride of Chaetus.[6]
Alkyonides[]
Asteria was one of the Alkyonides. Along with her sisters, she flung herself into the sea and was transformed into a kingfisher[7].
Consort of Phocus[]
Asteria[8] or Asterodia[9] was the mother of Crisus and Panopaeus by Phocus.
Consort of Bellerophon[]
Asteria, daughter of Hydeus, was the mother of Hydissos by Bellerophon. Her son is known for having founded a city in Caria which was named after him[10].
Daughter of Coronus[]
Asteria, daughter of Coronus, and Apollo were possible parents of the seer Idmon.[11]
References[]
- ↑ Hesiod, Theogony, 404ff.
- ↑ John Tzetzes.
- ↑ Theoi Project - Titanis Asteria
- ↑ Athenaeus (392d) summarizes the lost poetical narrative of Eudoxus, telling how Heracles the son of Zeus by Asteria was killed by Typhon in Libya.
- ↑ Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 4. 16.3 (on-line text)
- ↑ Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, 2. 1. 5
- ↑ Suda s. v. Alkyonides
- ↑ Tzetzes on Lycophron, 53
- ↑ Tzetzes on Lycophron, 939
- ↑ Stephanus of Byzantium, s. v. Hydissos
- ↑ Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, 1. 139, citing Pherecydes of Leros
External links[]
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